Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Almost nothing reliable is known about the identity of the writer of our first Gospel, except what is reported about him in the Gospels themselves. He was originally a publican, or tax collector, and was called Levi and Matthew (the latter - donum Dei, the same as the Greek Θεόδωρος, Russian - Theodore). It can be established with certainty that before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, Matthew was engaged in the spread of Christianity in Palestine among the Jews and, at their request, wrote his Gospel for them. The information about Matthew reported by some later historians (Rufinus, Socrates, Nicephorus Callistus) about Matthew’s extra-Palestinian activities is extremely scarce and, moreover, partly contradictory, so they cannot be completely relied upon. According to this news, Matthew preached Christianity mainly in Ethiopia, Macedonia and Asian countries and died a martyr either in Hierapolis, in Phrygia, or in Persia. But others say that he died of natural causes either in Ethiopia or Macedonia. Nothing is known about the reason for writing the Gospel of Matthew, and one can only speculate about it. If Matthew really initially preached his Gospel to his compatriots, then, when the apostle retired to other pagan countries, the Palestinian Jews could turn to him with a request to set out in writing for them information about the life of Christ, which the apostle did. Unfortunately, this seems to be all that can be said about this subject. As for the purpose of writing the Gospel, this can only be determined tentatively, based on its internal content. This goal, of course, was primarily to present information about the historical personality of Christ. But if Matthew preached initially among Palestinian Jews, then it was quite natural that, while presenting information about the personality and activity of Christ in his Gospel, he also had in mind some special goals that corresponded to the desires and mood of Palestinian Christians. The latter could recognize as the Messiah only a person who was the subject of the aspirations of the Old Testament prophets and the fulfillment of ancient prophetic predictions. The Gospel of Matthew satisfies this goal, where we encounter a number of Old Testament quotations, very skillfully and at the same time naturally and without the slightest exaggeration applied by the evangelist to the Person whom he himself undoubtedly recognized as the Messiah sent from God. In terms of the time of its writing, this is the earliest of all four Gospels, written shortly after the ascension of Jesus Christ, at least before the destruction of Jerusalem. The plan of the Gospel of Matthew is natural and determined by the material or information about Christ that the evangelist possessed. It clearly and concisely outlines the earthly life of Christ, from His birth to His death and Resurrection. When carrying out such a plan, we do not encounter any artificial grouping of material, although it must be said that, due to the desire to maintain brevity, we encounter numerous omissions in the Gospel and, on the other hand, we find that many events that took place over a more or less long period of time are connected to each other for the most part only by external connections. But this in no way interferes with the integrity of the story or its overall consistency. One has to be positively surprised how, in the space of just a few pages of the Gospel, with such art, material that, one might say, is inexhaustible in the richness of its content is so simply and naturally concentrated. As for the general content of the Gospel, we encounter here very diverse divisions. The general content of the Gospel of Matthew can be divided into four main parts: 1) The initial history of Christ’s earthly life before the beginning of His public ministry (Matthew 1:1–4:11). 2) Activities in Galilee - a period of increasingly increasing glory of Christ as a Teacher and Wonderworker, ending with His highest earthly glorification on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 4:12–17:8). 3) The intermediate period of Christ's ministry in Galilee and adjacent areas, which serves as a connection between His glorification and suffering in Jerusalem (Matt. 17:9–20:34). 4) The last days of Christ’s earthly life, His suffering, death and Resurrection (Matthew 21:1–28:20). Origen (186–254). “Interpretation of the Gospel according to Matthew” (Migne, PG.13). Hilary of Pictavia (c. 320–368). "Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew." (Migne, PL.9). John Chrysostom (347–407). "Commentary on St. Matthew the Evangelist" (Migne, PG.57–58). Eusebius Jerome (340–420). "Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew" (Migne, PL.26). Gregory of Nyssa (370 - † after 394). "On the Lord's Prayer" (Migne, PG.44). "On the Beatitudes" (ib.). Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354–430). "On the Concord of the Evangelists" (Migne, PL.34). “On the Sermon on the Mount” (ib.). Paschasius Radbert, Catholic theologian (9th century). "Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew" (Migne, PL.120). Rabban the Maurus (IX century). "Eight Books of Commentaries on Matthew" (Migne, PL.117). Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria (†c. 1107). “Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew” (Migne, PG.123). Evfimy Zigavin (†1119 or 1120). "Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew" (Migne, PG.129). Foreign commentators: Cornelius a Lyapide (1857), Bengel (1860), De Wette (1857), Lange (1861), Meyer (1864), Alford (1863), Morison (1902), Merckx (1902), Holzmann (1901), Zahn (1905), Ellen (1912). Russian commentators: Bishop Mikhail. “The Explanatory Gospel of Matthew”; Prof. M. Tareev. “Philosophy of Gospel History”; Prot. A. V. Gorsky. "History of the Gospel and the Apostolic Church." You might be interested in: